Coyolxauhqui

2017 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

9:46 minutes

Colectivo Los Ingrávidos

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The word Coyolxauhqui refers to femicide or the killing of women in rural Mexico on the basis of gender. The mutilation of the Aztec moon goddess Coyolxauhqui by her brother Huitzilopochtli, the sun god and human sacrificer, is reimagined in this film. Coyolxauhqui by Colectivo Los Ingrávidos is the first in a trilogy of films that positions itself as a form of political resistance, delving into the relationship between current Mexican femicide and broader cultural traditions. The film takes place in the abandoned La Mixteca region, home to several textile maquilas–manufacturing assembly plants that export duty-free components. Here, Coyolxauhqui’s original femicide links with the wave of the brutal femicides which began among young women working in the maquilas in Ciudad Juárez. The camera meanders to the frantic rhythm of an improvised percussion ensemble, recording blurred sneakers and clothing strewn across the brush, images of fruits and vistas. It is a visual poem about the cyclical nature of myths, rituals, violence, and death. Coyolxauhqui is one of three films created in 2017 by Colectivo Los Ingrávidos that address gendered violence against women in Mexico. All three are shot on expired film stock, which results in washed-out colors and the distinctive pinkish tone of color fading. Working with obsolete stock speaks directly to the scarcity of filmmaking in Mexico. At the same time, it also reflects on the Mexican political landscape and the precariousness of the working class’s living conditions. The permanent sense of danger, risk, and contradiction that emerge from the government’s neoliberal politics are conveyed in Los Ingrávidos’s medium and working processes.

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Colectivo Los Ingrávidos is a group of independent artists who experiment with documentary approaches and found footage. Their goal is to challenge the commercialization of audiovisual creativity and the tedium of conventional television and cinema production. Colectivo Los Ingrávidos arose as a resistance movement and collective action that began cooperating amid major protests against the Mexican government, reporting through an anonymous YouTube channel for fear of retaliation. To work collaboratively is a political decision to deconstruct the artist-centered neoliberal order in which the object’s value and the author’s intention are at the focus of critical debate. It was necessary to operate as an anonymous collective as Mexico is the second-deadliest country in the world for journalists after Syria (according to Reporters Without Borders.) Los Ingrávidos’ work must be understood in light of their collective roots, collaborative production process, and decentralized approach to content and form. Their radical visual sound experiments and relational approach are methods for dismantling audiovisual ideological paradigms. Their films capture the urgency, immediacy, and energy of direct political action, thereby presenting a common critical space.

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Colors:

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• violence.n.01
• identity.n.01
• spirituality.n.02
• culture.n.01
• inequality.n.01
• patriarchy.n.01
• sex.n.04